Six Sigma, the term,Measurement in Six Sigma, the term,Function of Six Sigma, the term,Process of Six Sigma, the term,Perspectives of Six Sigma, the term,Process Capability of Six Sigma, the term

Monday, March 3, 2008

CTQ Tree-Six Sigma Tools

So what is CTQ Tree-Six Sigma Tools really all about? The following report includes some fascinating information about CTQ Tree-Six Sigma Tools--info you can use, not just the old stuff they used to tell you.

If your CTQ Tree-Six Sigma Tools facts are out-of-date, how will that affect your actions and decisions? Make certain you don't let important CTQ Tree-Six Sigma Tools information slip by you.

CTQ tree is actually the abbreviated form for Critical to Quality tree. The CTQ tree indicates key measurable aspects of that process or product whose specification limits or performance standards must be met to fully satisfy the customer. It aligns developments or helps in designing efforts to adapt to customer requirements. More specifically, it is mainly applicable for decomposing broad customer requirements and change them into more easily quantifiable requirements. The CTQ Tree is often used in Six Sigma methodology.

The steps for creating and using a Critical to Quality Tree or shortly, CTQ Tree are as follows:

Step 1: Identification of the key customer requirements - The team identifies the key requirement the customers have for the product or service. This is done through a process of open discussion. Usually, this need is put forward in the broadest terms, through good customer service for instance, to ensure that the team does not miss out on anything.

Step 2: Identification of customer's first level of requirements - The team gets to identify two to three requirements which are able to resolve major customer needs as pointed out Step 1. Good customer service refers to the phones which are answered quickly by staff who are knowledgeable about the product.

Step 3: Identification of customer's second level of requirements – In this step, the team gets to identify two to three needs which further resolve each customer requirement as pointed out in Step 2. The phones which are answered quicker may be defined as being answered within 2 rings. Then a knowledgeable staff member may be able to answer 90% calls before transferring them to another individual.

Step 4: Stop after quantifiable requirements are reached - This step applies to a situation when the team reaches a level of requirement which can be measured. The team would then halt the process of identifying needs if these requirements become distinctly measurable.

Step 5: Confirm the final requirements with customers – This is actually the final step taken which is applied after all customer requirements over a CTQ Tree have been pointed out and identified to a certain quantifiable degree. Each of these requirements should actually be confirmed again with customers.

Moreover, CTQ Tree is a tool which helps in translating the customer's language into quantifiable requirements useful for the company service or product. The reasons for creating the CTQ Tree are as follows:

* Ensures that all aspects of the need are identified. * Converting overall customer requirements into more specific CTQ requirements. * Helps the teams in moving on from higher level to detailed specifications.

Sixsigmahub.com provides you with information about the actual time taken to use the CTQ Tree. This time is actually calculated when a company's product or service is able to meet the problem of

* Unspecified customer requirements * Broad or more complex needs

Specifications need to be set for CTQ trees: In the process of manufacturing, the limits for specification often arise out of mechanical or technical requirements, or else, the base level specification limits about data on customer needs sets specifications about the exact point where customer satisfaction tends to fall noticeably. These specifications can be one-sided or else two-sided. However, even if there is a single value which the process output should not exceed or go down below, then it becomes a single-sided specification only. In case one can define both lower and upper boundaries, then one tends to have two-sided specifications. Upon following up on the five-step VOC data collection process, one can help in ensuring that the current situation is identified and understood from the customer's point of view.

Sometimes it's tough to sort out all the details related to this subject, but I'm positive you'll have no trouble making sense of the information presented above.